Officials still watching for hotspots at Ogden Park

Wednesday

Jul 25, 2012 at 4:21 PM

Fire could end soon, but it can take months for the area to get green again

By Gareth McGrathGareth.McGrath@StarNewsOnline.com

The blackened forest was still smoldering Wednesday morning as a handful of N.C. Forest Service personnel stood watch, watering down the remaining hot spots.A day after a short, but heavy storm dumped more than half an inch of rain on parts of the Wilmington area, the brush fire that torched 10 acres in Ogden Park late Monday afternoon was still burning on either side of the utility lines that bisect the New Hanover County park.Roger Anderson, smoke chaser with the forest service, said it could take until the weekend for the fire, which was still churning in the rich organic soil, to be completely extinguished - although that hasn’t stopped the park from fully reopening."Right now we're finding the smoke and putting out the hot spots," he said as a forest service truck navigated the containment line that had been cut around the charred forest.While it might only be a few days until the fire is out, it will take longer for the forest to green back up.That recovery, however, could yield a healthier environment than what was there pre-fire, experts said.Ten miles away at the scene of another recent urban brush fire in Wilmington, the signs of environmental revitalization are already on display.Three months ago, nearly 50 acres on either side of South 17th Street near George Anderson Drive was burnt after a wildfire sparked by an unattended charcoal grill swept through the wooded area.The flames forced several neighborhoods to be evacuated and left a smoky haze over parts of the Port City for days.But today the area is a sea of green as grasses, ferns, shrubs and even the occasional sapling snake up from the forest floor. Many of the trees, although their trunks still show the burn marks, also have new buds.Roger Shew, an environmental sciences lecturer at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said fire is a natural and often needed element of the coastal plain ecosystem."You really need fire to have a healthy environment," he said, noting that some native species rely on fire to be successful.Shew said not having regular burnouts also can lead to a buildup of "fuel" on the forest floor, which can lead to dangerous situations when fire does sweep through."You can have larger flame lengths, hotter temperatures and a bigger fire overall whereas if you keep a regular burn rotation, natural or manmade, you don't have as large or dangerous a fire," said Sara Babin, conservation coordinator with The Nature Conservancy, which does regular prescribed burns in its extensive Green Swamp and Boiling Spring Lakes reserves.But in an urban environment, like much of New Hanover County, factors from proximity to homes to smoke concerns can make burning problematic.Still, whether the cause of the fire is natural – like the lightning strike in Ogden – or accidental, the forest will recover.Shew said grasses can sometimes start to reappear in days, shrubs within weeks and trees – assuming they can survive a wildfire – can start showing fresh signs of life within a few months."Nature is very resilient," he said.Al Hight, director of the New Hanover Cooperative Extension, echoed the sentiment."Within several weeks, you're likely to see an enormous difference, especially during this time of year," he said, noting that the summer's warm soils and warm temperatures should help facilitate the recovery. "It's going to happen very quickly."